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Local business owners fear negative effects of new gun laws

Terry Rix, owner of 3rd Street Pawn, is worried that the new gun laws that went into affect Monday will hurt his business. (Brandon Hopper / Daily Record)

Colorado's new gun laws went into effect Monday, and local small business owners are sure that their bottom line soon will take a hit.

Among the new laws are a ban on ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds and the requirement that all gun sales — even those between friends — require a background check.

The background checks must be done by a retailer. For Terry Rix, owner of 3rd Street Pawn, the background check law is much more of a worry than the high-capacity magazine one.

"I'm not going to spend 30 minutes of my time doing a gun check for a person that I make no money out of," he said. "... If I had to do everybody's on the street, I'd be doing nothing but being a public servant for free. That's the part that's not going to fly."

New gun laws went into affect on Monday, and local business owners are afraid the laws will hurt their bottom line. (Brandon Hopper / Daily Record)

The check costs $10 and the money winds up in the hands of the government, which would leave the business with no money to show for the employee's time spent performing it. Businesses aren't allowed to charge more than $10 and keep the difference.

A stolen gun opens a whole new set of problems, Cañon City Sports Outlet co-owner Jason Gardner said. A stolen gun in the books could lead to problems for the business, even if they were just performing the check between two private citizens.

"I'm not going to do them, period," Gardner said. "... The state legislature had no business entering into commerce in such a way that they would tell a private business what they would charge."

Susan Medina is the spokeswoman for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Medina said it's unclear what the CBI will do in cases where a gun store refuses to arrange a background check for privates sales, The Associated Press reported.

The magazine limit already affected Cañon City Sports Outlet, Gardner said. He held a gun sale for the past month to get rid of most of the now-illegal-to-sell magazines and firearms. Some of them still remained on Monday, and he took those off the shelves.

I had to take guns off the shelf this morning because I don't have magazines that'll fit them," Gardner said. "There are some guns that they won't make magazines for."

Magpul Industries, a company out of Erie that makes firearm accessories including magazines, said it would move out of Colorado if the ban became law. State Sen. Kevin Grantham noted the move when talking about how the new laws will affect business owners.

"Right away we have a net effect of lost jobs," Grantham said.

A message was left for state Sen. Angela Giron for comment on how the law would affect businesses, but it was not returned Monday. Giron is facing a recall election in Pueblo after she voted in favor of the gun laws.

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